


The Gift: Book One - The Tunnels Under Central

by coldflashwavebaby



Series: The Gift [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Blogging, But like Scooby Doo horror really, ColdFlash Big Bang 2020, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Flashcanary as stepsiblings, Like grown up Scooby Doo, M/M, Slow Burn, Treasure Hunting, but like he means well, kind of, stalker len
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:33:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27785293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldflashwavebaby/pseuds/coldflashwavebaby
Summary: “Barry Allen,” he read off. “Son of Nora Thompson and Henry Allen. Lived in Central all your life. You and your partner in crime here, Miss Iris West, have been in and out of this office more often than some convicted criminals. Seems the previous sheriff excused most of your deeds, but the pair of you have branded yourselves amateur sleuths.”
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Kara Danvers/Iris West, Sara Lance/Oliver Queen
Series: The Gift [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032750
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21
Collections: Coldflash Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

Barry tapped his foot nervously on the shiny, tiled police station floor. To his right sat his best friend, Iris West, and to his left was Sara Lance, his new-ish stepsister. On the bench across from them, Kara Danvers sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking slightly with anxiety. Beside her sat a man a year or two older than all of them in a green leather jacket. 

He tried not to let his eyes linger on the man too much--not his light scruff, or intense eyes, or broad shoulders…Iris made no secret about checking him out, though, despite the deep trouble they were in. Of course, she wasn’t worried. She never was when it came to troubles with the law. 

God, they were in trouble _again._ And this time, they were _adults._ There would be no slap on the wrist or ‘kids will be kids’. They were going to jail this time. 

“Barry, you’re spiraling,” Sara said, nudging his arm with her elbow. Had he been saying all that out loud? 

“He does that,” Iris replied. She finally looked away from the new guy to turn to Sara. “You should’ve seen him the time we broke into Old Man Michael’s house when we were fourteen because he thought he was secretly a vampire. Turns out he was counterfeiting money and we caught him red-handed, but Barry was _so sure_ we were going to jail.”

Barry rolled his eyes. “We _did_ go to jail. Your dad locked us in the holding cell for twelve hours. I thought my dad and Uncle Jay were going to have a heart attack. Now, I’m only going to be able to talk to them through a phone and two inches of plexiglass!” 

“You are so dramatic!” she hissed back. 

Kara trembled. “Oh my god, my moms are going to _murder me._ I remember the time Alex got arrested…” 

“Kara, chill out!” Iris commanded. “We’re all going to be alright. You guys are acting like we were caught robbing a bank. Just keep it cool and keep our stories straight. There’s no way anyone will believe what _really_ happened.”

“And just what _did_ ‘really happen’?” the new guy finally spoke up, arms still crossed and eyes still furiously locked on the ground. “Because I was there, and I’m still a little fuzzy on the details. Did we really see…?” 

Barry, Iris, and Kara all shushed him. There were some things in Central people just didn’t talk about, and whatever they’d just seen was one of them. Sara frowned, her eyes darting to each of them. 

“What, we aren’t allowed to say…?”

“No!” Kara basically shouted. A deputy who had been passing paused for a moment, before shrugging and continuing on. She lowered her voice. “We don’t talk about it. Especially not in the middle of the police station.” 

Sara and New Guy both frowned, but they were thankfully spared from any more questions by the door to the sheriff’s office opening. After Joe West retired, a new sheriff stepped in to take care of...well, all _this._

Sheriff Rip Hunter looked not much older than them--maybe a decade and a half, at most, which was still pretty young for a sheriff--but he held himself like the ultimate authority. With a curt nod, he ushered them into his office. 

The room hadn’t changed since it was Joe’s. There were four plastic chairs in front of his desk and a wooden stool in the corner. The desk was so wide, you almost had to jump over it to get to the office chair behind it, which was pushed back against a blind covered window. 

New guy took the stool in the corner, while the rest of them sat in the plastic seats, Sara taking the seat by Kara while Iris sat on the edge by Barry. 

Barry swallowed hard as Sheriff Hunter walked around their chairs to settle on the edge of his desk. 

“So…” he started, crossing his arms over his chest, “trespassing on federal ground. You kids know how much trouble that could get you into?” 

Barry started nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, and it won’t happen again.” 

Hunter raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Reaching behind him, he grabbed a stack of papers. “Barry Allen,” he read off. “Son of Nora Thompson and Henry Allen. Lived in Central all your life. You and your partner in crime here, Miss Iris West, have been in and out of this office more often than some convicted criminals. Seems the previous sheriff excused most of your deeds, but the pair of you have branded yourselves amateur sleuths.” 

“Kara Danvers-Zorel,” he read from the next file. She tensed at her own name. “No trouble with the law, though you are noted to be a suspected accomplice in Mr. Allen and Ms. West’s misdemeanors. Straight A student with a full ride to National City University, but you turned it down to take a gap year.” 

He sat her file down. “Sara Lance. Daughter of Detective Quentin Lance and Dinah Lance. You and your mother moved out here a year ago and she married Henry Allen, Mr. Allen’s father, nine months ago. No priors...yet.”

Barry couldn’t help but bite back a laugh at that. Hunter must have seen that mischievous twinkle in Sara’s eye that made everyone hide sharp objects and watch their backs when they upset her.

“And finally, we come to Mr. Oliver Queen.” His attention went to the man in the corner. “Ex-playboy. Son of the late Robert Queen. Heir to millions. A prior sheet that’s so long, if we’d printed it out, our printers would have run out of ink.”

Barry’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and he turned to face the new guy. _Oliver Queen_. He’d heard about him. The son of the former state governor, who was forced to step down after it was found out that her late husband had been mixed up in some plot to wipe out the lower-income neighborhoods of Starling City.

He was also said to be a loose party boy with more notches on his bedpost than there were stars in the sky. He dropped out of the limelight about four years ago, when he’d been found on a deserted island three months after the boating accident that he lost his father in. He’d been thought dead, and the search parties had stopped. It was only by sheer dumb luck he’d been found. The next year, he completely dropped off the face of the Earth. 

Barry couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing in Central City of all places. 

“You were all found in the old mines under the city,” Hunter continued. “I’m sure you all know that those have been closed off for the safety of the townsfolk. Those tunnels run all under Central--one bad cave-in could bring city blocks down.” 

Iris jumped to her feet. “We weren’t doing anything dangerous! Barry and I were taking pictures for our...blog.” She sunk back into her seat, clearly kicking herself for not coming up with a plausible lie instead of an uncomfortable truth. 

Of course, Hunter’s eyes went straight to him, meaning that he’d already been filled in on what ‘blog’ she meant. Barry wasn’t a very well-liked person in town because of it. The sheriff’s attention went to Sara and Kara. 

“And you two?” 

“I did some research for them,” Kara explained, her voice shaking. “I was showing them the safest spots to be in and which tunnels were...dangerous.”

At least Kara could lie when she needed to. 

“I followed Barry.” Sara shrugged. “There’s nothin’ else to do in this town. Honestly, I thought he was sneaking off to do some underage drinking.” 

Knowing Sara, that _was_ the truth. Finally, Hunter looked to Oliver. “And what of you, Mr. Queen? What could interest you in our mines?” 

Oliver’s jaw clenched. He tightened his fists and sneered at the sheriff. Oh, this was not a man who liked to be questioned, Barry could already tell. 

“My family owns those mines, Hunter. My mother’s family founded Central and dug those mines out for generations. I have more right to go in there than anyone else in this town.”

Hunter leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “And what _were_ you doing in there?” 

Oliver’s eyes darted to the others, locking with Barry’s. Barry tried to send a message-- _Please don’t say anything PLEASE don’t say anything..._ like he was telepathic or something. But Oliver didn’t know them. He didn’t care about them. There was no reason for him to lie about what happened in the mine. 

He steeled himself, ready to be busted, when…

“Just wanted to see what my family put so much money into.” Barry’s heart slowed. He blew out the breath he’d been holding and almost melted into the chair. 

Hunter didn’t look at all like he believed them. “And why were the five of you screaming and running out when I arrived?”

A smug smile grew on Oliver’s lips, and Barry had a feeling they were going to be okay. “Skunk. Big one. Size of a bobcat.” 

There was an intense stare down. Hunter glared at Oliver, while Oliver’s disinterested expression didn’t falter in the slightest. Barry could swear steam was shooting out of the sheriff’s ears, and Sara cleared her throat, cutting the tension. 

“So, are we under arrest or what? ‘Cuz we didn’t really _do_ anything, other than the trespassing part.”

“And that seems like a stupid thing to get hung up on,” Iris pointed out. Kara nodded in agreement. 

If it were Joe, they’d be spending the night in the cells. He was a fan of the “scared straight” method, even if it never proved to actually work. Hunter, however, was a wildcard. He could go either way, and there would be no nepotism to keep them from going to the county jail. 

Hunter looked over them all once more before hanging his head with a sigh. “I’m allowing you to leave with a warning _this time_. But, keep in mind that those mines are dangerous. If I see any of you near them again, you will be arrested for trespassing and reckless endangerment.”

He made a shooing motion towards the door, which Barry took as their sign to leave. He, Kara, Iris, and Sara all rose from the chairs and shuffled towards the door. Oliver stayed seated on his stool until Barry passed, and he grabbed his arm. 

“You owe me,” he hissed, leaving no room for argument as he released him and cut in front of him to the door. 

_What a dick._ He rolled his eyes and continued out the door, barely avoiding jumping when it slammed shut behind him. Great first impression on the new sheriff. Not that he’d expected anything different. 

He and Iris were somewhat pariahs in Central City, despite being only nineteen years old, and Kara was well on her way just by association. Ever since the assumed death of his mother in the Great Quake, Barry had become consumed with strange deaths and disappearances around town. Iris joined him when they were eleven, but her passion for the town’s curiosities was driven by a need for truth. They created The Conspiracy Report when they were thirteen, a blog where they revealed their findings of the strangeness within the town. Joe tried to have it taken down multiple times, but a hacker penpal of Barry’s was able to prevent that from happening. 

They met Kara when she came to Central at thirteen, back when her mother married their biology teacher, Mrs. Danvers (now Danvers-Zorel). She was shy and a bookworm who spent most of her time either with her adopted sister (who went off to college, but still came home often) or at the library. She was eager to make friends who loved listening about her latest research deep dive and quickly joined their blogging team (though Barry and Iris kept her name out of it since Eliza wouldn’t approve). They often had to drag her on investigations, like they had today, but they were a team. 

Now, they were going to have Oliver Queen and Sara asking questions before they could even come up with some of their own. 

He followed in step with Iris and Kara as they headed for the exit, Sara following close behind. Iris leaned in. “So, _Oliver freaking Queen?_ ” 

“I know!” he whispered back. “Kind of a jerk, right?”

They stepped out of the building and into the cool, October air. Barry tugged his thick, flannel coat tighter against the harsh breeze. Kara flipped up the collar of her turtleneck and pulled her black beret over her ears. Iris zipped up her coat. Sara, on the other hand, stood completely unfazed in her thin t-shirt and capri jeans. 

Speaking of the devil, Oliver was waiting on the sidewalk for them, hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket and face full of disinterest. He raised an eyebrow at them. 

“So, you gonna talk about why I had to lie in there or what?” From what Hunter had said, Barry would bet that it wasn’t the first time Oliver Queen had ever lied to the police, but he couldn’t fault the man for wanting answers. Even if she wasn’t grilling him at the minute, he knew that Sara was waiting for the same thing. 

He shared a look with Iris and Kara. “Fine, but...not in public.” He turned to head back to the mines and waved for them to follow. “We left our stuff behind when the cops nabbed us, and our Stash of information and proof is in Kara’s bag.”

Kara nodded. “We all figured I was the last person anyone in this town would think was keeping The Stash.” 

“Why?” Sara asked. 

“Because Kara is terrified to death of this stuff,” Iris explained, throwing an arm over Kara’s shoulder. “But she’s also brave enough to help us expose the truth of Central City.” 

Kara’s cheeks pinkened. They continued down the sidewalk towards the old mines, and Barry looked over their town. It was already an hour past dusk when the sun was gone but there was still enough light to see by before the plunge of night. 

The lights from the buildings around them--CC Jitters, the Lady Bug Boutique, the bookstore, the ice cream shop, the salon--were all lit, even if the street lights hadn’t kicked on just yet. String lights crisscrossed over the street, though, lighting the way. Few cars were on the road, and fewer people were on the sidewalk. There was a still quiet in the air that was unnerving. 

They turned off the main road once they got to the end of the shops, Iris and Kara leading the way through the spit of trees surrounding downtown Central. Sara fell in step with Barry, and he could feel her sizing him up. They hadn’t bonded much since she moved to town. Her _real_ sister passed away a few years back, which destroyed her parents’ marriage. There was a small shrine to her in Sara’s room, and she didn’t like to talk about it. In fact, sometimes, she acted like her sister never existed. 

So, he could imagine that she wasn’t too keen on the idea of a new sibling. She only moved to Central to be with her mother. Sure, she’d been nice to him and his dad, but she barely ever spoke more than two words to him when the niceties passed. 

He couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t been too excited about the prospect of his dad remarrying. Even though Dinah was nice, no one could replace his mother. 

They broke through the trees and into the flat land of the Deardon Silver Mines. The entrance was boarded up over ten years ago, right after the Great Quake, but three of the bottom boards had been pulled mostly out for easy access by Iris and Barry five years ago. 

Of course, that was over now that Sheriff Hunter knew about it. He and his deputies would probably come out at first light and fix it. Iris headed to the entrance to slip under the boards and grab Kara’s bag, while Barry went over to the dried-up riverbed nearby, where he’d dropped his own backpack and flashlight. 

Sara followed close behind. 

“Hey!” She shoulder checked him hard enough to knock him back a bit. 

“Ow!” Barry rubbed his arm, knowing there would be a bruise there later. 

“Don’t be a baby. Tell me about the spooky stuff.” 

Barry sighed. “You _saw_ it.” 

“No, I saw you and your friends running through the tunnel and a giant shadow behind you,” she argued, darting in front of him and keeping in step as she walked backward. “It’s not the same thing. What’s the big shadow that no one wants to talk about? And why were the three of you down there?”

“Why were _you_ down there?” Barry countered, stepping around her as they made it to the bank. He grabbed his worn, beige satchel--his mother’s, still with the embroidered ‘N.T’ on the flap--and scanned the ground for his flashlight. 

“I was following you and your friends,” Sara admitted, sounding as shameless as she probably was. “I wanted to know where you guys sneak off to all the time, but I was _waaaay_ off. I thought you guys were smoking weed or going to raves. Do they throw raves in this town?”

Barry rolled his eyes and continued his search. His dad was going to kill him if he didn’t bring back his good flashlight. He needed it for when he volunteered with EMS. 

“So, what was it?” Sara continued. “And why don’t people talk about it?”

Barry continued to ignore her in favor of his search, but it was pointless. The flashlight was gone, probably taken by one of the mouth-breathing deputies that couldn’t stand him. Frustrated, he shook his head and turned back towards the mine. 

He was about a quarter of the way back when he realized Sara was still where he’d left her, glaring at his back. 

“Are you coming?” he called to her. “I thought you wanted to know what was going on. You’re gonna need The Stash to believe us.”

The steely expression on her face was replaced by excitement as she ran after him. Barry couldn’t help but smile. 

When they arrived back at the entrance, Iris and Kara were standing side by side, looking around for something. The Stash was in Kara’s hands. 

“What’s happening?” he asked, stopping at Iris’ side. “Where’s Queen?”

“Said he was getting something he’d left behind when the sheriff picked us up,” Iris answered. Barry followed her gaze towards where he assumed Oliver disappeared to. They waited another few seconds before bright lights appeared across the quarry. 

As they grew closer, Barry got a better look at what they were attached to, and he couldn’t believe his eyes. 

“What the hell…?” Iris said, and from the looks on Sara and Kara’s faces, they were thinking the same. 

It was a full-sized school bus, painted a dark, olive green with a painting of a centaur firing an arrow on the side. There were blackout curtains covering the windows on the inside, but through the windshield, Barry could see enough. 

Oliver Queen was living out of an old school bus. Oh my god. 

The brakes on the bus let out a hiss as Oliver stopped the bus in front of them, and the doors slid open. He looked out from the driver’s seat with a raised eyebrow. “Get in. You still owe me an explanation.” 

For just a second, Barry paused. They didn’t really know Oliver--he was just some weirdo that was lurking in the mine and got arrested with them. What if he was a serial killer? 

Iris stepped up on the stairs and looked back at them. “It’s okay. I trust him.” 

Barry looked at Kara, who nodded. They trusted Iris’ instincts and guesses over most people’s facts. She was rarely wrong, if ever. She climbed into the bus, and Barry and Kara stepped in right behind her, with Sara following uncertainly


	2. Chapter 2

Barry walked back home slowly, his mind still racing about their conversation in Oliver’s bus.

Even with the little peek Barry got through the windshield, the inside of the bus had surpassed what he’d pictured. Oliver didn’t ‘live out of a bus’, he’d turned the inside of a school bus into a home, with a kitchen, living area, and bedroom. Sure, there wasn’t much in the way of privacy except the blocked off area behind the bedroom, which Barry had to assume was the bathroom (he hoped), but it was better than anything Barry could’ve imagined. 

The others had stared in equal amazement, while Oliver smiled smugly. He closed the door behind them and turned in his seat. “Okay. Explanation time, because I don’t know what the hell that thing was in those mines, but it wasn’t natural.”

Barry bit back a laugh, and Iris shook her head with a stiff grin. Kara was the one who answered. “It is here.”

That’s when Kara opened the Stash and pulled three familiar folders. One, bright blue, was packed with scanned or stolen copies of old newspaper clippings. Another, pale pink, had their personal notes and experiences, dating back to middle school for Barry and Iris and high school for Kara. Finally, the last folder, which was a plain manilla folder, had their research and conclusions. It was the thinnest of the three, which never failed to irritate Barry. 

Kara looked for a place to sit, and Oliver nodded to the loveseat on the driver’s side of the bus. He stood and grabbed a section of wall across from it, which folded down into a table. She gave him a grateful smile before opening the blue folder. 

“First off, to answer yours and Sara’s question--we have no idea what’s in the mine.”

Sara frowned and Oliver glowered. 

“ _ But _ ,” she quickly continued, “that doesn’t mean we don’t have  _ some  _ answers. Barry and Iris have been investigating the Unknowns--that’s what we call them--since the Great Quake. I’m great at research, so I was able to dig even further back and…” 

She spread out three of the newspaper clippings. Barry was already aware of what they said. 

> _ Werewolf attack or childish hoax?  _ Dated 1947. 

> _ Miner disappears; Soviet Plot or Terrible Accident?  _ Dated 1968. 

> _ A Monster in the Ravine, Teenagers Claim.  _ Dated 1989. 

She laid out a scanned article, this one dated 1813. The Dearden Gulch Daily read,  _ Silver Mine Awakens Indian Curse, Claims Citizens. _

“No one really knows what they are or what is causing it, but we do know that no one in town likes to talk about it.” 

Sara stepped up to the table and ran her fingers over the articles. “Are these the only ones you could find?” 

Kara nodded. “There’s a pattern somewhere, but whatever it is, none of us can figure out what it is. But, since the Great Quake twelve years ago, the activity has spiked. There are incidents on a near daily basis. Some people will open up to us about them, but most are too afraid to say anything.” 

She looked to Barry, and Sara and Oliver followed. Iris took his hand, and he sighed. “I was seven when the Great Quake happened. It was also the first time I saw anything. I was walking home from school when it started. I ran home as fast as I could, but there was a man in my house. A yellow man with red lightning around him. He was screaming. He ran at me, like he was going to hurt me, but then, he was gone. No one believed me, but I knew what I saw was real.” 

Iris squeezed his hand in support. “The first thing I ever saw was when I was ten. I kept hearing something move under my bed. My dad told me I was imagining it, but I got up for water one night and a hand grabbed my ankle and tried to drag me under. My dad came when I screamed, and it disappeared in the light. He didn’t believe me.” 

Barry snorted at that. Joe never believed anyone. After his mom died, Barry’s dad volunteered constantly, taking as many jobs as he could to distract him. When that didn’t work, he started drinking. Joe would watch Barry when his dad couldn’t--whether because he was busy or because he was passed out drunk. Whenever Barry tried telling him about the yellow man or when Iris would swear there was a creature living under her bed, he wouldn’t just brush it off. He would outrightly deny they saw anything and tell them he didn’t want to hear them mention it again. 

And Joe  _ despised  _ the Conspiracy Report. He did everything to try and bring it down--from jumping through legal hoops to telling Barry’s dad--but Barry and Iris (and Kara, though Joe didn’t know it) continued. 

Oliver’s eyes went to Kara. “And what about you? What got you into all this?”

Kara bit her lip and lowered her gaze. Barry thought he could see a bit of pink in her cheeks. “I was walking home from the library about a year after I moved here. It was night time. I heard crying in the alley behind the library, so I went to go check, and…” 

She paused. Barry knew it was hard for her to talk about what she’d seen that night. 

“I saw a ghost.” 

Oliver raised an eyebrow, disbelief on his face. “A ghost? Like, yelling ‘boo’ and wearing a white sheet ghost?”

The pink on her cheeks turned red, and Kara pushed to her feet, fists clenched. “No, asshole. Like my best friend who was murdered when I was in middle school. He grabbed me and tried to drag me away, but Barry showed up and kicked it in the face.”

Oliver reeled back like he’d been slapped, and Kara blew out a low breath. “It slunk back into the darkness. I knew no one would believe me, just like no one will believe you two if you talk about the shadows in the mines.” 

Sara leaned in towards Barry, a smile on her face. “I like her.” 

“So,” Oliver spoke up again, “what you’re saying is that you’ve been investigating this stuff for nearly a decade and you  _ still  _ have no idea where these things come from, what they are, and what’s causing them?” 

Barry snorted. “I wouldn’t say all that. We know they have something to do with the mines.”

“We think that it’s all the same thing, but it changes depending on who the target is,” Iris added. 

Oliver and Sara had seemed confused by that, but both let it go. For now, at least. 

They sat in silence for about half an hour, Oliver and Sara flipping through what they had. Once they finished, the pair shared a look. Barry couldn’t tell if they believed what they’d been told, or if they thought he, Iris, and Kara were as crazy as everyone else did. 

Oliver drove them all back into town, stopping at Iris and Kara’s house first before dropping Barry and Sara off a block away from their house. Sara seemed lost in thought the whole way, mostly ignoring Barry in favor of the sidewalk. He hung back once they turned on their street and let her get ahead, allowing him to be alone with his own thoughts. 

He, Iris, and Kara had never been run out of the mines like that before. It was like something was different now. The air around them was different. Could it be Oliver Queen’s arrival? Or Sara and Oliver joining them in the mines? Maybe the Unknowns sensed fresh meat and wanted to pounce? That didn’t feel right either, though. 

A cold shiver ran down his spine. He stopped, just steps away from the front gate of their house, Sara waiting on the porch for him. He felt...unsettled. Like someone--or some _ thing _ , he thought grimly--was watching him. 

Oh, not now. There were high hedges separating every house on the block, like a scene from  _ Halloween.  _ Whatever Unknown the town had in store for him could be lurking behind any of them. Sara was tensed too, like she could sense his distress. Slowly, he raised a foot to take a step. Maybe if he could get to the gate first…

“Evening.” 

He didn’t scream. No matter what Sara said, he did  _ not  _ scream. He did, however, jump three feet in the air and nearly knock himself on his ass. 

There was a man cooly leaning against the hedge. He didn’t look much older than him--maybe ten or so years--and there was a smirk on his face. He wore a blue leather jacket over a black tee and black skinny jeans to match. Striking blue eyes bore into Barry’s. 

“Sorry to scare you,” the man said in a tone that told Barry he wasn’t sorry at all. Asshole probably did it on purpose. “I just thought you’d be missing this.” 

He’d been holding his hands behind his back, and now held out his right to show Barry...his dad’s flashlight. Barry let out a sigh of relief and took it. “Thanks. My dad would’ve killed me if I told him I lost this.” 

The man nodded. “You need to be more careful with your things. Who knows what’s out there. Especially by that mine.” 

Barry frowned, but the man just winked. “See you around, Barry Allen.” 

The man walked off, and Barry just stared after him. Sara stepped down to the fence to watch the man leave with him, and she let out a low whistle. “Who the hell was that?”

Barry shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met him.” 

“Then, how did he know your name?” 

Barry didn’t have an answer for that. Maybe he knew about his blog? But there were no pics of him and Iris on the blog. The thought unsettled him. 

“Let’s just head inside,” he said, stepping through the gate. “Dad and Dinah are going to be worried.”

Sara gave a small nod, and they strolled up the walkway and into the house. 

###

Iris crept quietly into her house. It was only her and her dad, and since he’d retired, he was always in the living room when she came home, waiting to interrogate her on what she, Barry, and Kara had been up to. 

Soft snores hit her ears instead of passive-aggressive probing, however. Iris walked into the living room. Her dad was sitting in his armchair, leaned on one arm, asleep. She grabbed the throw off the back of the couch and draped it over his shoulders. 

Retirement was hard on Joe West. He’d been an officer since he was eighteen and out of high school. He hadn’t wanted to retire after only three years of being sheriff, the job he’d been after since applying for the CCPD, but for reasons he refused to talk about with her, he decided randomly one day that he was going to leave the force. 

Deep down, Iris knew it was about her, but she couldn’t figure out how. It didn’t stop the guilt she felt, though. She kissed her father’s forehead and settled on the couch, grabbing her book off the side table. Two chapters in and she already knew who the killer was, but knowing never took the excitement out of things for her.

The pair stayed like that for another three hours, until Iris was on chapter twelve and the clock on the mantle was sounding ten times. 

###

Everyone thought Kara was the girl scout of the group, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t learned how to sneak in and out of the house from her sister, Alex. It was easier than going through the front door and answering all of her mother and Eliza’s questions. Besides, the lights in the living room were low, meaning they were having a romantic movie night. Kara did  _ not  _ want to walk into that. 

She took a running start at the tree closest to her room and, when she was within reach, jumped. She planted her foot against the trunk and launched herself to the first branch, which she swung herself up onto, and then leapt to the next highest. 

Alex would be so proud of her dismount to the roof when she told her about it. She edged over to her window, which she’d left open, and slid inside with a grin. She was more than book smarts. 

She slid the Stash off her arm and threw it under her desk. A picture on her desk caught her eye--one of her, Barry, and Iris when they all went to prom together junior year. She took the frame in her hand. 

Barry had worn his father’s old baby blue tux with his hair slicked back. She remembered how proud his dad had looked taking their picture, even though Barry had gotten mercilessly picked at school the next day.

Alex helped Kara pick out her dress--a light pink, lace cocktail dress with a crinoline underneath. She’d even gone with contacts that night. 

The belle of the ball though, as always, was Iris. She’d worn a form-fitting, glittery red dress, with her hair in an elaborate updo and her makeup flawless.

Kara ran a finger down the frozen image of Iris’ smiling face. Ever since she’d met Iris, she’d had...uncomfortable feelings for her. Feelings people weren’t supposed to have for their best friends. 

It wasn’t the “girl” thing--Alex was a lesbian, after all, and their moms had been awesome about it. It was more that Iris seemed so unattainable. It was always Barry and Iris. Friends since childhood, always at each other’s sides through thick and thin. They were like soulmates--meant to be. They weren’t even  _ together _ , but she could tell how they felt about each other. How could Kara compete with that?

She sighed and put the photo back down. It’d been a long night. 

###

Oliver waited until Sara Lance and Barry Allen meandered around the corner to their house before driving off towards the woods. He’d been parking near a jogging trail since he’d arrived in town weeks ago, hoping to avoid unwanted attention. All that work, all to be foiled in one rookie move. He got himself caught. 

Once he was hidden in the trees, he parked his bus and pulled the curtains over all the windows. His father’s final words of warning to him had been to stay away from Central, and not to trust anyone there. He may have disobeyed his first wish, but he refused to let his guard down. Someone in this town was responsible for his accident, for his father’s death.

He closed his eyes, remembering that night that his yacht went down off the coast of California. His parents had been separated since he was in high school, with his mother moving home to Missouri and his father staying in California. Oliver and his sister moved between the two of them for a few years before Oliver decided to stay with his dad and his sister with their mom. 

He was taking some time off from school, trying to get his life together, when his dad offered to take him on a trip for his birthday. Just a little yacht cruise, maybe visit Coronado. 

They were three nights into their trip when he was woken by a loud crash. At first, he thought they’d hit something, like a reef or an animal. But when he rushed out on the deck, there were flames licking the walls, and the air was full of smoke. His dad was already on deck when he ran out, trying to extinguish the flames, but the boat was going down fast and the flames were only getting higher. 

Robert Queen grabbed his son and leaped into the water with him. They spent the next four days floating in the ocean with nothing but a lifejacket, which they passed between each other the entire time. When the fifth day came, they were both too tired to float without it and too tired to hold the other up.

_ “Son,”  _ Robert had said as Oliver’s eyes started to droop from exhaustion,  _ “you need to hold on. I need you to protect our family. I need you to live.” _

When he opened his eyes again, he was wearing the lifejacket, and his father was gone. It wasn’t until he was found on some spit of land that could barely count as an island and was brought back home that he found what his father had been talking about. 

Oliver walked to the back of the bus. He flipped the corkboard beside the bed, which he’d carefully hidden before the others got on the bus earlier, back around. He’d thought that what Barry and the others had to say would blow his whole investigation open, explain what his father had been trying to tell him that night. 

There were photos of Barry, Iris, Kara, and a couple of Sara he’d taken stuck all over, along with documents from Robert Queen’s files. The names  _ Allen _ ,  _ Zorel _ , and  _ West _ were all over them, along with  _ Thompson  _ circled five times with an arrow pointed at a handwritten ‘ _ cause of quake????’.  _

He thought it was some kind of conspiracy. He didn’t know there were  _ shadow monsters involved.  _ Sighing, Oliver grabbed a sticky note and wrote “monsters from the mines”. He stuck it to the board and looked it over again, hoping that, for once, it would all make sense. 


	3. Chapter 3

Of all the ways that Barry expected to get woken up the next morning, he hadn’t even considered getting tackled off his bed by Sara as one of them.

Sitting on his legs, dressed in a white crop top and jeans ripped at the knees, Sara grinned wildly. “Don’t even  _ think  _ that you and your friends are going after that shadow thing without me today.” 

Barry frowned. “Thought your mission since moving in was to pretend I don’t exist.”

“First, harsh,” she replied, standing up and holding her hand out to him. “Second, that was before I found out that you and your friends were, like, the  _ coolest  _ people in this town!” 

That was definitely the first time he’d ever heard that. He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. 

“Um...well, we all have the day off, so usually I call up Iris and Kara, and…” 

He didn’t even have time to continue before Sara was lunging for his phone and pulling up their numbers. 

When the face call started to ring, she threw herself at Barry’s side. Iris answered first, then Kara. 

The former frowned. “Since when do we video call?” 

“Since Sara stole my phone.” 

Kara smiled and gave a little wave. “Hi, Sara! How are you?”

Sara smiled at the greeting. Most would’ve taken it as a gratuitous smile, thankful that Kara was acknowledging her. After living with her for six months, Barry knew _ exactly  _ what it was--an in. 

“I’m great!” Sara threw her arm over Barry’s shoulder. “Me and Bare were just thinking we should all do something today!”

He was positive that his face said that he certainly was  _ not  _ just thinking that, but Kara nodded. “That sounds great! I was actually thinking that we could head to the library, see if we can get our hands on some old maps of the mine tunnels.”

Kara always made research sound like it was some kind of adventure. Of course, to her, it was. Once, she told Barry that books were like portals for her, which dragged her away from her life. Given the tragedies in her past, he could understand. 

A small grimace pulled at Sara’s lips—obviously, it wasn’t what she’d had in mind—but she covered it with a smile. “Yeah, that sounds  _ great,  _ Kara.” 

Iris raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? Doesn’t exactly seem like...your thing.” 

Her eyes darted to Barry, a silent question which he answered with a small shrug. Sara either didn’t notice or didn’t feel it was worth mentioning.

“Oh, I  _ love  _ a good mystery,” she said, like a liar. Barry had seen her read a grand total of one mystery novel since he met her and she got so frustrated that she skipped to the end to find the answer. 

Iris’ lips pulled into a tight smile. “Alrighty. See you then.” She hung up quickly, and Kara gave another wave before disconnecting. 

Sara turned to Barry with a raised eyebrow. “Iris doesn’t like me very much, does she?” 

Barry sighed, walking over to his closet. May as well start getting dressed. “Iris is wary of new people. She doesn’t dislike you, though. If she did, you wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near our investigations, and she’d let you know about it. She’s protective of me and Kara.”

For some reason, she also trusted Oliver with it. That was fishy, but Iris’ instincts were never wrong. As wary as she was of strangers, there was something about them that she trusted. That was enough for Barry. 

He grabbed a red sweater and a pair of jeans. When he turned, Sara was sitting on his bed. He frowned. “Get out. I need to get dressed.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” With an impish smile, she rose to her feet and headed for the door. “Such a prude,” she teased before stepping out and shutting the door behind her. 

  
  
  


###

Oliver parked his bus in front of a strip of storefronts across from City Hall. Usually, he spent his time tailing Barry Allen and his friends--not in a creepy way, he tried convincing himself--but today, he had to visit an old family friend. He had one ally in this town. An old friend of his parents who he had emailed before dropping into town.

Looking both ways, he ran across the street and into City Hall. His family friend just happened to be the mayor of Central, meaning that he could give Oliver answers about how it all connected back to his father and the accident. 

The receptionist at the desk outside the mayor’s office was probably in her early forties, with brownish-red hair tied up in a bun on her head and a black dress. When she saw him, she smiled. 

“Hello. May I help you?”

Oliver cleared his throat. “Oliver Queen here to see Malcolm Merlyn. He said that he would be expecting me if I decided to drop by…”

The woman’s eyes darted to a sticky note on the screen of her computer and nodded. “I’ve got the notice right here. He’s in a meeting at the moment, but you can go in when he’s finished.”

She motioned to a waiting area across from her. Oliver smiled thinly, walking over to the plush yet uncomfortable seats to wait. 

He hadn’t seen Malcolm Merlyn since he was six-year-old, before the accident. Back then, Tommy, Malcolm’s son, was Oliver’s best friend. They ran around the Queen and Merlyn estates, getting into trouble and causing a ruckus wherever they went. Tommy always told Oliver they’d be best friends forever, brothers in everything but blood. 

Then, he and his mother, Rebecca, drove to a cabin they owned in Colorado for a mini-vacation. Oliver’s mother told him Rebecca had begged Malcolm to come along, but he’d been too concerned with work. So, Rebecca drove the entire twenty-something hours with only a small child for company. 

According to the accident report, she fell asleep at the wheel somewhere near Denver and drove off the side of the mountain. She died instantly. Tommy hadn’t been so lucky. He slipped into a coma for three years before Malcolm decided to pull the plug. Oliver still remembered the funeral, how blank Malcolm’s face had been. How Oliver’s parents stood at his side, especially his mother. How, right after, Malcolm moved away, back to some small town in the middle of nowhere. 

He’d never seen a man so broken before. 

The door opened, jarring him out of his memories. Sheriff Hunter stepped out of the room in a huff, angrily stomping away and muttering under his breath. 

The receptionist gave Oliver a smile. “You can go in if you’d like.”

He wasn’t sure how Malcolm would feel about that, but he obeyed anyway, climbing to his feet and approaching the room slowly. With the way the sheriff had acted, he’d expected Malcolm to be in a much more rotten mood. Instead, the mayor’s face lit up with joy when he saw Oliver walk in. 

He was older than he’d been at Tommy and Rebecca’s funeral--of course he was, that was over a decade ago--but he held himself as a much younger man. There was a sparkle in his eye that Oliver had never seen before, and a smile that stretched the laugh lines on his face. 

“Oliver!” He held his arms wide, just like when Oliver was a kid. He barely resisted the urge to run and jump into them like a six-year-old. 

“It’s good to see you, Mr. Merlyn,” he instead greeted formally, letting himself get pulled into a tight hug. There was a fatherly feeling to it, one that he’d missed since his dad’s death, and he hugged the man back just as tight. 

“You too, son,” Malcolm replied, “and, please, call me Malcolm. We’re practically family.” 

Oliver pulled back, fighting back tears. “Okay.”

Malcolm motioned for him to sit on the other side of the desk. “What brings you to my sleepy little town? Learning about your family history? We have a fantastic historical archive with documents dating all the way back to the Native American tribes.”

Oliver shook his head, sliding into a chair. “Actually, I’m here because of my dad.”

Malcolm’s smile fell. He hung his head. “Yes. I am sorry about your father. He was a good friend. Anything I can do for you, I will.”

“I appreciate it.” He cleared his throat, uncertainty suddenly taking him over. What if the answers he got didn’t satisfy him? Or worse, what if they just led to more questions? “I was going through my father’s belongings after he died, trying to find...I guess a reason? Why he gave his life for me, why he gave up. I don’t know.”

He reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out a small stack of folded papers and an old polaroid. “This was in a box labeled ‘1994’ in my dad’s attic.” 

Malcolm held out a hand, carefully taking the bundle like it was made of glass. Oliver sat in silence as he flipped through them, already knowing every inch of each sheet and every detail in the picture. 

The polaroid was of a group of young people, no older than eighteen, grouped together. He’d already identified some of the subjects in the photo. 

There was a young woman sitting on the floor in the foreground with thick glasses on her nose and long blonde hair. This was Eliza Danvers (nee Slater). 

Kneeling behind her, with her chin resting on Eliza’s shoulder and waves of dark brown tossed to one side, was Alura Zorel (nee Jorel). 

Behind them, leaning against the table they were posed in front of, was a young man with a ramp fade--Joe West--who was looking at the man standing beside him. This man had Oliver stumped. He was the same age as the rest of them with black hair, glasses, and a smile that said he knew everything. Oliver had searched everywhere he could, though, and it was like the man didn’t exist. 

To Joe’s right were two girls hugging each other. One had curly blonde hair, the other long, auburn hair--Dinah Drake and Nora Thompson. Behind them all, sitting cross-legged on the table, was Oliver’s mother. 

It was the last figure, however, that Oliver was the most concerned about. Part of the polaroid was burned away, leaving only a hand gripping his mother’s shoulder left. Whoever this was didn’t want to be known. 

Papers were notes his father had taken. They mentioned Dearden Gulch, now Central City. They mentioned people disappearing and dying. They mentioned Oliver’s mother trying to convince his dad to leave it alone, that he would only get hurt. It also had two names--Snart and Nora Thompson. 

Malcolm looked over them, his frown deepening. “I don’t understand.”

“My dad was investigating something about my mom,” he explained. “Apparently, it started right after Thea got the flu and had an allergic reaction to her medicine and almost died. It scared my dad, and he thought we were cursed or something. Any other time I would think he was just paranoid because he was upset, but with what happened…”

“With what happened, you think that because I knew your parents in ‘94 that I might know what this all means.” Malcolm nodded. “I understand...I think. What does this have to do with me?” 

This was going to be the awkward part. Barry, Iris, and Kara had warned him that the people in the town didn’t like talking about the nasty side of things, but this was different. He could trust Malcolm. 

“Yesterday, I happened across the Dearden mines with some others.”

Malcolm’s frown started to melt away. “You’re one of the ones caught by Sheriff Hunter. I get it. But, let me tell you something, Oliver.”

He leaned against the desk, an amused smile on his face. “Barry Allen is a distressed person. He lost his mother in the Great Quake and remained convinced  _ for months  _ that she was alive. Deep down, I think he still believes it, and he wants some kind of evil spirit to blame for it all.

“Ms. West is prone to hallucinations and hysteria. I personally believe it’s part of some untreated mental illness, but her father refused to get her checked over. As for Ms. Danvers-Zorel...well, I’m sure you’ve noticed that she’s not exactly the most in-demand person when it comes to friends. There’s a reason the people in this town aren’t too fond of those three. That blog of theirs spreads panic and superstition.”

Oliver frowned. That was a strong opinion. He was starting to see what Barry and the others meant about being pariahs. 

“So,” he said, leaning forward, “you’ve never seen anything strange. You don’t believe…?”

“In shadow monsters, demonic creatures, and nightmares wandering the streets? No. I think that it’s trauma-induced figments of grieving minds, a couple of kids trying to find answers to why they’re hurting so bad.” 

Malcolm cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Did you see something?” 

Did he? Or was he reacting to a dark environment and the panic of four other people? 

“No,” he replied, not sure if he was lying or not. “I haven’t seen anything. Just heard some stories.” 

Malcolm nodded. “Good. I was worried. You’re a good kid, and I’d hate to see you...well…”

“Turn into a kook?”

“Exactly.” Malcolm laughed. “Hey, why don’t you come to my house and have dinner? Maybe the night after tomorrow? We can catch up, you can tell me all about how things have been going for you.”

Oliver wanted to say no. He had things he needed to get done, and catching up would only be a distraction. But there was a hopeful gleam in Malcolm’s eyes, and guilt settled in his stomach. “Sure. That sounds great.” 

Malcolm’s smile grew. “Fantastic. My house is the big one on the hill. My assistant will give you the address. Eight-thirty, sharp.” 

It wasn’t really a question, but Oliver nodded anyway. He knew a dismissal when he heard one and rose to his feet. “It was great seeing you, Mr. Merlyn.” 

Malcolm waved him off. “Malcolm, Oliver. You aren’t ten anymore.”

He smiled and strolled out the door. It wasn’t until he was on the stairs leading out of City Hall that he realized that Malcolm hadn’t given the picture or notes back to him. 

###

The Darryl Frye Public Library was unlike any library Sara had ever seen. Since Central was a small town, she hadn’t expected some generic, federal building, like they’d had in Star, but she wasn’t expecting the large mansion in front of her.

It was like a small castle of bright red brick, with a tower on each of the building’s four corners, reaching up the sides of its four stories. When they stepped up to the door, Sara noticed a plaque that explained it was the oldest home in the city, once belonging to the Deardon family before they donated it to the town. 

“This place belonged to Oliver’s family?” she asked. 

Iris, who was walking beside her, shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t even know Oliver Queen was related to the Deardon family until yesterday.” 

Kara took a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. “The library is closed on Sunday,” Iris explained. “But, since Kara is the assistant librarian, she has a key and gives us unrestricted access whenever we want. It’s great when we have to work on our blog or do some quiet research.”

Sara nodded. She knew what Barry did for a living--part-time as a substitute teacher at the middle school, slowly losing his patience with each passing weekday--but the other two were mysteries to her. It was her own fault, not wanting to get too close to Barry and his life because it felt too much like trying to replace Laurel, but now, there was something binding them all together. A secret and a mystery. 

It was...an interesting development, to say the least. As they strolled into the library, Sara was floored  _ yet again  _ by the sight. The bookshelves reached the ceiling. Every room had shelves, and every shelf was overflowing with books. There was a short entry hall that led to a reception desk, which was bookended by two staircases that led in opposite directions, up to a balcony above that overlooked the lobby. 

Not what she expected from a town like Central  _ at all.  _ “Wow…”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kara said, shutting the door behind them and locking it. “This is my favorite place in town. Not a lot of people come in here, so it’s quiet, and there are so many books to read.”

There were stars in her eyes and a dreamy smile on her face. An amused grin appeared on Iris’ lips as she walked to Kara’s side and took her hand. The dazed look dropped from Kara’s face. Her cheeks pinkened. 

“Right…” She cleared her throat but made no move to pull away from Iris. “We need to head into the basement. That’s where all the historical records are, which is where any clues will be.” 

She finally pulled her hand out of Iris’ as they headed past the desk to a door under the right staircase. Using the same key to the front, she unlocked it and stepped into the darkness. 

###

The pitch-black stairwell opened into a large room, lit only by a series of dusty bulbs lining the ceiling, which Kara turned on with a large switch on the wall. The smell of musty, mildewed paper hit Sara’s nose, making her gag. 

Around them were thick, wooden shelves full of boxes, books, and loose paper stacks. There were three breaks in each line of shelves--two that made a path to go to the next row and the third, in the middle, was a desk for study. On the desk was--and she couldn’t make it up if she tried--an antique oil lamp. 

“When was the last time this place was remodeled?” Sara asked. She ran a finger along one of the shelves and cringed. “Or cleaned?”

Kara, who was already lighting the oil lamp, answered. “The foundations of the library were damaged by the Great Quake, and everyone else is too scared to come down here because they think it’ll cave in or something. I’ve never noticed any damage, so I’m not too scared. They have me bring things down here and bring things up. So, since I got this job six years ago, it’s just me. I’ve tried cleaning up, but it’s HUGE down here. I’m pretty sure it extends past the library and under some neighboring houses.” 

Sara was still floored with awe. Not what she’d expected from a ‘trip to the library’. “So...what are we here for?”

A broad grin stretched on Iris’ face. “Last night, Kara came up with a new angle for us.”

Kara, who was grabbing a large, thick leather-bound book off one of the shelves, nodded excitedly. “I was thinking--we  _ know  _ these things are connected to the mines. What if they’re living down there, using them to move around the city? It occurred to me that we really don’t know how far the old mine goes and where all the openings are. We could have a Basilisk situation on our hands.”

Sara frowned and looked to Barry.

“Harry Potter,” he explained. “Giant snake that moved through the pipes to avoid being seen.” 

That was kind of terrifying, but it did help. “Right, so how do we find that?”

Kara flipped open the large book, nearly knocking herself over until Iris and Barry rushed to her side to sturdy her. A cloud of dust caused each of them to cough. 

“This,” Kara explained, “is a log of everything we have down here, sorted by date. We need to find the oldest documents here, around the time they were building the mines. The Deardons would’ve wanted their progress logged, so there should be a map somewhere down here.”

That made sense. However, when Sara stared past the hundreds of shelves and let out a distressed sigh. There was  _ so much  _ to search through. How could they find anything?

Barry stepped away from Iris and Kara with a nod. “How about Sara and I start searching through the stacks and try to find the oldest dates we can, and you guys look through the log?”

Splitting up must have been something they did regularly because, without waiting for an answer, Barry turned and started walking through the shelves, activating his phone flashlight to light the way. Sara hurried to catch up. 

###

Barry was uncomfortable with how Sara was acting. When she’d first moved in, she’d ignored him and acted like she hated him. Her first words to him were that they weren’t siblings. And Barry had been fine with that. He didn’t want a stepmother or sibling. It had just been him and his dad for years, though it had mostly felt like just him at times.

Now, though, she was all over him and his friends, wanting to get involved and showing interest in what he was doing. It felt like an invasion, and he didn’t like it. Once they were in the old section of the basement, he rounded on her.

“Why are you doing this?”

The light from his phone cast a strange shadow on Sara’s face, and her expression betrayed nothing. 

“Because you said you needed my help going through the stacks.”

“Not that!” Barry hissed. “I mean you finally decided after months that you want to be a part of my life. We had a great thing going--ignoring each other, reluctantly accepting that our parents make each other happy. Now, you’re invading my life and my friend group because...what? You’ve finally found something interesting about me?”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. Ever think maybe I’m just bored and there’s finally something interesting going on? Don’t read so much into it.” 

There was something behind her expression that Barry couldn’t read. Something more to all this, but he could tell that she wasn’t in the sharing mood. He sighed. “Whatever, just stay out of our way. We’ve been working hard at this for years, and I don’t want it all to be messed up because you decided our lives are a passing fancy.”

He turned to walk away, but Sara grabbed his arm. “Don’t pretend you know me!” 

“Let go!” He snatched his arm away, only to knock himself off balance. He fell back into one of the bookcases with a yell. Sara reached out to catch him, but the bookshelf was rotten and broke under his weight. It crashed to the floor along with Barry. 

He groaned. Typical. 

“Barry…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” 

“No, look.”

He raised his head from where he was laying. Sara’s attention was on the wall that had been behind the shelf. Or what should’ve been a wall, at least. Instead, there was an archway. 

Barry’s eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?” 

A smile pulled at Sara’s lips. “I’d say the chances are pretty good.” 

###

Kara sat on the desk by the lantern, log in her lap, while Iris perused the shelves around them. Her eyes darted up every now and then, taking in the almost ethereal way Iris moved. 

God, she needed to  _ stop. _

“Find anything yet?” Iris asked, breaking her out of her internal struggle. 

The honest answer was no, she’d been trying to read the same line for the past three minutes. However, from what she was seeing, she doubted what they were looking for was in the logs. Mostly, it just seemed to have reports and records. No maps. 

She shut it with a snap. “Nothing.”

Iris pursed her lips and continued scanning the surrounding shelves. Without a word, she grabbed an old ladder leaned against a nearby shelf and moved it down the line. She stopped at a seemingly random shelf and climbed up. 

“Whatcha doin’?” Kara asked, hopping off the desk. 

Iris didn’t answer. Instead, she reached for something on the top shelf, just beyond her reach. Her fingers gripped the edge of a sheet of parchment, and she pulled.

Ironically, Kara saw her falling before Iris even realized it. She ran, catching Iris in her arms (and nearly falling to the ground in the process).

Iris didn’t even react to her fall. Instead, her face lit up. “I think I found it!” She looked at Kara like she just  _ belonged  _ cradled in her arms and smiled. “A map of the mines. It’s from 1900, but still!” 

Kara smiled back, unable to form words. Thankfully, she was spared by Barry and Sara running out of the shadows. “Guys!” the former shouted. He froze in place, looking between the pair. “Did we interrupt something?”

Iris held up the map. “We found it!” 

Kara finally set her back down, clearing her throat nervously. “What about you two?” 

The two shared a look. Sara was practically trembling with excitement. “We found something, too.” 


End file.
